lawandorderfandomcom-20200223-history
Conscience (SVU)
Summary A boy brutally murders a neighbor boy. The victim's father recommends leniency, but questions his decision when new facts come to light. Plot Five-year-old Henry Morton disappears during a birthday party and all eyes lead to Billy Turner, a registered sex offender. But the case takes a twist when Henry is found dead and his 13-year-old neighbor, Jake O'Hara, is responsible. Jake tearfully confesses that he killed Henry in a panic because Henry witnessed Jake falling on a cat and killing it after chasing it and was scared that Henry was going to tell. He claims that he was abused after being sent to a camp for kids with behavioral problems. ADA Casey Novak and Dr. George Huang go to the camp and find that Jake was never abused, but rather an abuser who would self harm and threaten his victims if they told on him. This evidence reveals that Jake is a sociopath, who has no remorse, no conscience and murdered Henry just because he wanted to. Henry's father, Dr. Brett Morton, is shocked when this information is revealed at the last minute in the courtroom. Realizing that Jake would get out of jail at age eighteen and would possibly keep on killing, Morton is overcome with panic and anger, prompting the judge to have him thrown out of the courtroom. When Jake and his mother leave shortly afterward, Jake gives Morton a seemingly-sincere but false apology, and Morton steals a police officer's pistol and shoots Jake with it. After Jake dies in surgery, Morton is charged with murder. During court, Novak wonders if Morton acted like a grief-stricken father when he shot Jake or he did it because he had previously written a paper detailing that sociopathic children like Jake can't be helped. At the end, with the trial over and Morton acquitted, he confides that he was in full control when he shot Jake out of guilt, for he knew that Jake could never be cured of his sociopathy. When asked what distinguishes him from Jake, Morton replies that Jake would have kept on killing once he was released, whilst Morton himself will never kill again. Cast Main cast * Christopher Meloni as Detective Elliot Stabler * Mariska Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson * Richard Belzer as Detective John Munch * Diane Neal as A.D.A. Casey Novak * Ice-T as Detective Odafin Tutuola * B.D. Wong as Dr. George Huang * Dann Florek as Captain Donald Cragen Recurring cast * Peter Riegert as Defense Attorney Chauncey Zeirko * Mike Doyle as Forensics Technician Ryan O'Halloran * Jill Marie Lawrence as Defense Attorney Cleo Conrad * Audrie J. Neenan as Judge Lois Preston * Tamara Tunie as M.E. Melinda Warner * Novella Nelson as Family Court Judge Anne Sciola * Judith Light as Bureau Chief Elizabeth Donnelly * Ian Bedford as Officer Bamford * Kevin Jiggetts as Officer Green * Dennis Pressey as Dog Handler Guest cast * Kyle MacLachlan as Dr. Brett Morton * Johanna Day as Leslie O'Hara * Jordan Garrett as Jake O'Hara * P.J. Brown as Billy Turner * Bruce Kirkpatrick as Malcolm Wolinsky * Kathleen McNenny as Mrs. Morton * Gary Werntz as Judge Donald Harris * Jeff Gurner as Dr. Burt Gleason * Wiley Moore as SOMU Detective Monahan * Mark Aldrich as Jeffrey Jackson * Jennifer Prescott as Soccer Mom * Cecelia Antoinette as MTA Clerk * James Hosey as Sam * Peter Oliver as Jason * Jelani Jeffries as Tod * Brenden McVeigh as Theo Morton * Christen Simon as Paralegal * Wendy Scott as Foreperson * Michael Iles as Henry Morton * Max Iles as Henry Morton * Jessica Katz as Kid * Alexander Scheitinger as Kid * Alonzo Golden as Uniformed Evidence Cop (uncredited) References Quotes ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Background information and notes Episode scene cards Category:SVU episodes